It's hard to avoid a few inferences. Last week's e-mail to the parish said, "Fr. Phillips is our pastor emeritus and enters that state called 'retirement.'” Bp Lopes's letter reiterates, "With this appointment, The Rev Christoper Phillips will be retired." It would appear the man is retired indeed, finito, fini, schluss. He has been replaced by what we must conclude is the most trustworthy man in the OCSP aside from Fr Perkins, the only remaining vicar forane with Fr Kenyon's departure.
This change has been accelerated beyond the initial announcement that it would take place in 2018. A visitor told me that as of May 16, the date of Bp Lopes's letter, Bp Lopes was on site at OLA, and an audit of the parish was under way. Certainly it seems as though the outcome for Fr Phillips has been visually hard to distinguish from what it would have been under Abp Garcia-Siller.
I'm told Fr Lewis's replacement at St Luke's Washington will be Fr John Vidal, formerly of Mt Calvary, latterly civilian chaplain of NAS Corpus Christi, TX and the St Anselm's Ordinariate group.
